News & Analysis as of

Securities Act of 1933 Digital Assets

The Securities Act of 1933 is a United States federal statute enacted in response to the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression. The Act has two primary purposes: 1) to give investors better... more +
The Securities Act of 1933 is a United States federal statute enacted in response to the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression. The Act has two primary purposes: 1) to give investors better access to material information prior to investing 2) ensure that transactions are not based on fraud. In order to effectuate its dual goals, the Act requires that any offer or sale of securities is registered with the SEC. less -
Troutman Pepper Locke

SEC Clarifies Disclosure Requirements for Crypto Asset Securities

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On April 10, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance (the Division) issued a statement aimed at providing greater clarity on the application of federal securities laws to crypto assets....more

Latham & Watkins LLP

SEC Staff Clarifies That Certain Dollar-Backed Stablecoins Do Not Implicate the Securities Laws

Latham & Watkins LLP on

The Staff noted that a stablecoin generally is not subject to SEC jurisdiction if it is not an investment and used solely for commercial activity....more

A&O Shearman

SEC staff takes a position on the security status of USD-backed stablecoins

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On April 4, 2025, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance (the “Staff”) issued a statement concluding that a narrow class of USD-backed, fully reserved, non-yield-bearing stablecoins (“Covered Stablecoins”) do...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

SEC Greenlights Proof-of-Work Mining

Lowenstein Sandler LLP on

The Division’s statement specifically addresses the mining of crypto assets that are intrinsically linked to the programmatic functioning of a public, permissionless network. These assets, referred to by the Division as...more

A&O Shearman

Southern District Of New York Denies Digital Asset Trading Company’s Motion For Judgment On The Pleadings

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On February 7, 2025, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a motion for judgment on the pleadings in a putative class action against a cryptocurrency...more

King & Spalding

Meme Coins: Collectibles, Not Securities.

King & Spalding on

On February 27, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance (“CorpFin”) issued a Staff Statement announcing its view that meme coin transactions do not involve the offer and sale of...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Looking Under the Hood of $TRUMP’s Legal Strategy

Fenwick & West LLP on

On Friday, January 17, 2024, President Donald J. Trump announced the launch of the $TRUMP memecoin, which was organized and sold by CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization. Within 60 hours, $TRUMP reportedly...more

Proskauer - Regulatory & Compliance

Digital Assets:  What to Expect from the Incoming Administration and Congress

The Trump Administration and the new Republican-led Congress are expected to create a friendlier governmental approach to crypto assets. Among other things, key nominees to serve as senior administration officials are known...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Samuels v. Lido DAO: A Potential New Frontier for Liability in the Cryptocurrency Space

A recent order handed down by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California could be a new source of concern for digital asset entrepreneurs and the venture capital firms that invest in and support...more

Morgan Lewis

Attorneys General Allege SEC Overreach in Digital Asset Regulation

Morgan Lewis on

A complaint was recently filed by 18 state attorneys general and the DeFi Education Fund against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), alleging that the agency is exceeding its authority by attempting to regulate...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Top 5 SEC Enforcement Developments for August 2024

Each month, we publish a roundup of the most important SEC enforcement developments for busy in-house lawyers and compliance professionals. This month, we examine: •The SEC’s case against crypto firm Kraken is permitted to...more

Fenwick & West LLP

SEC v. Ripple Decision Makes Waves in Digital Assets Enforcement

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On August 7, 2024, nearly four years after the SEC filed its complaint alleging Ripple sold XRP in unregistered securities transactions in violation of Section 5 of the Securities Act, the district court issued its final...more

BakerHostetler

Ripple Case Reaches Final Judgment as Digital Assets Law Continues to Evolve

BakerHostetler on

On Aug. 7, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued its judgment in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ripple Labs, Inc., marking the end of district court- level proceedings in the highly...more

Cornerstone Research

Securities Class Action Filings: 2024 Midyear Assessment

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The number of securities class action filings increased in the first half of 2024 relative to the second half of 2023, according to a report released today by Cornerstone Research and the Stanford Law School Securities Class...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

SEC Approves Spot Ether ETFs

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On July 22, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declared nine registration statements effective under the Securities Act of 1933 for spot Ether ETFs, clearing the way for the ETFs to begin trading on July 23....more

King & Spalding

House Passes FIT21 – What does it say, and what does it mean for digital asset providers?

King & Spalding on

On, May 22, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4763, Financial Innovation for Technology for the 21st Century Act (“FIT21”). The legislation was touted by the House Financial Services Committee’s Chairman,...more

BakerHostetler

Weekly Blockchain Blog - March 2024 #2

BakerHostetler on

Financial Institutions Add Bitcoin ETFs, Crypto Product Integrations Continue - According to recent reports, two major U.S. financial institutions have begun offering spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to their...more

Winstead PC

Judge Rules That Terraform’s Crypto Assets are Securities

Winstead PC on

Last year, the Court in SEC v. Terraform Labs suggested, by denying the defendants’ motion to dismiss, that the sale of a digital asset to the public on a secondary market may constitute a security. Now, the Court has...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Binance Settles Criminal and Civil AML and Sanctions Enforcement Actions for Multiple Billions – While its Founder, Owner and...

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As the world now knows, Binance Holdings Limited, doing business as Binance.com (“Binance” or the “Company”), has entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”)....more

Ankura

Understanding the Crypto Ripple Effect

Ankura on

On July 13, 2023, the Court ruled in partial favor of Ripple Labs Inc.’s argument that many of its XRP sales did not violate investor-protection laws. The ruling has sent the crypto world ablaze with speculation on the future...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

SEC’s First Two NFT Enforcement Actions Cast Shadow of Ambiguity

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently brought its first two enforcement actions against issuers of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), resulting in cease-and-desist orders, penalties and other remedies, finding that the...more

A&O Shearman

DeFi protocol Uniswap and investors avoid suit for fraudulent activity on digital asset exchange

A&O Shearman on

On August 30, 2023, in a case of first impression, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed in full a putative securities class action against Uniswap Labs, a decentralized finance (“DeFi”)...more

A&O Shearman

SEC charges Impact Theory for unregistered offering of NFTs

A&O Shearman on

On August 28, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged Impact Theory, LLC (“Impact Theory”), a media and entertainment company headquartered in Los Angeles, with conducting an unregistered securities...more

ArentFox Schiff

Crypto Anti-Touting Lawsuits: Celebrity Settlements with SEC Following Alleged Failures to Disclose Payment for Promotion of...

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On August 4, 2023, celebrity singer Austin Mahone entered into a settlement agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after being sued in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY)...more

Jones Day

Ripple and Terraform Labs: Two New York District Courts Address the Status of Certain Crypto Assets as Securities

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In Short - The Situation: Recently, two judges in Southern District of New York were required to apply the Howey test in separate cases to decide whether sales of certain crypto assets were investment contracts, and thus...more

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